In conventional light-emitting diodes (LED), the electrical contact-connection is generally effected by two electrical contact layers, wherein often only a comparatively small region of the chip surface is provided with a contact area. This type of contact-connection can disadvantageously lead to inhomogeneous energization of the semiconductor chip, which leads to an increased forward voltage and to a low quantum efficiency in the active zone. This effect occurs particularly in the case of semiconductor materials which have a low transverse conductivity, particularly in the case of nitride compound semiconductors.